random user
First Post
Thanks for the comments so far.
I'm a little concerned about the whole "printing money" (in effect) while adventuring.
After thinking about it, I've thought of a couple ideas. First, I'm thinking about requiring special ink which is more expensive than normal ink. This would decrease the profit margin.
The second thing I'm thinking is the ink needs to be in reasonable vials. Thus, you couldn't just give the quill a vat of ink to work with. There is probably room for 20 vials in a reasonable workspace (just tossing out numbers here, what do you guys think?), and if each vial is enough for about one tome, that means only 20 copies can be made, or less if color is needed, before someone needs to come in to replace the ink. I suppose one could use a follower to do this, but at least it means it's not just "free money."
I think my player might have put in a higher pre-req simply because one of the key things I try to ensure is a fairly reasonable economy. We all turn our heads and pretend that selling magic items for half price isn't unreasonable (for the sake of balance), but we try to keep things as reasonable as possible.
The higher level would mean less people would have access to this item. And those people might not be as interested in.
Alternately, I'm thinking of a couple other options. First, perhaps the quill can't scribe directly into a book. It can only scribe onto sheets of paper, which can be then later bound (think copy machine). This would make it more of a hassle to print free money as it takes time (and money) to bind the new sheets. Also, since the paper needs to be standard size, anyone can tell at a glance that it's not the original, which could cause a decrease in price (similar to how man-made emeralds are worth less than real emeralds).
Another alternative (again like a copy machine) is that the duplicate isn't as good quality as the original. It's stil usable -- just its not worth as much as a normal book.
Yet another alternative is that the book quality isn't as good, and it ages quickly. A book made by this process only lasts a couple years, so few people would want to buy it.
And yet another alternative is that the book is written in such a way that only the owner of the quill understands the text -- to everyone else it's garbage (this would actually be a benefit in some ways).
Any thoughts? Basically I'd like my player to be able to get use out of this, but not be able to copy books forever and just sell them for a profit.
I'm a little concerned about the whole "printing money" (in effect) while adventuring.
After thinking about it, I've thought of a couple ideas. First, I'm thinking about requiring special ink which is more expensive than normal ink. This would decrease the profit margin.
The second thing I'm thinking is the ink needs to be in reasonable vials. Thus, you couldn't just give the quill a vat of ink to work with. There is probably room for 20 vials in a reasonable workspace (just tossing out numbers here, what do you guys think?), and if each vial is enough for about one tome, that means only 20 copies can be made, or less if color is needed, before someone needs to come in to replace the ink. I suppose one could use a follower to do this, but at least it means it's not just "free money."
I think my player might have put in a higher pre-req simply because one of the key things I try to ensure is a fairly reasonable economy. We all turn our heads and pretend that selling magic items for half price isn't unreasonable (for the sake of balance), but we try to keep things as reasonable as possible.
The higher level would mean less people would have access to this item. And those people might not be as interested in.
Alternately, I'm thinking of a couple other options. First, perhaps the quill can't scribe directly into a book. It can only scribe onto sheets of paper, which can be then later bound (think copy machine). This would make it more of a hassle to print free money as it takes time (and money) to bind the new sheets. Also, since the paper needs to be standard size, anyone can tell at a glance that it's not the original, which could cause a decrease in price (similar to how man-made emeralds are worth less than real emeralds).
Another alternative (again like a copy machine) is that the duplicate isn't as good quality as the original. It's stil usable -- just its not worth as much as a normal book.
Yet another alternative is that the book quality isn't as good, and it ages quickly. A book made by this process only lasts a couple years, so few people would want to buy it.
And yet another alternative is that the book is written in such a way that only the owner of the quill understands the text -- to everyone else it's garbage (this would actually be a benefit in some ways).
Any thoughts? Basically I'd like my player to be able to get use out of this, but not be able to copy books forever and just sell them for a profit.
